Intelligent network telephone call processing is now quite common, and telephone network providers, such as LEC's and IXC's, are putting more and more intelligence into their networks. Many details of the intelligent network and the features offered in it are set forth in special Report SR-NPL-001623, issued by Bellcore in June 1990 and entitled "Advanced Intelligent Network Release 1 Network and Operations Plan". Other information relating to the intelligent network may be found in the Q.1200 series of recommendations prepared by the International Telecommunications Union Telecommunications Standards Sector (ITU-TSS, formerly known as CCITT), and in an article entitled "AT&T's Global Intelligent Network Architecture" by Kettler et al. in the AT&T Technical Journal, September/October 1992, at page 30. The development of intelligent networks started before microcomputers became generally available for use in terminals. The current situation is that intelligent networks continue to evolve under the assumption that the terminals connected to those networks are equivalent to ordinary telephones, with, at most, Touch Tone (DTMF) capability.
On the other side of the coin, the intelligent terminal industry is developing rapidly, but independent of the intelligent networks. This is occurring because the terminal industry includes many small, fast moving companies that have not had much success dealing with large network utility companies. The mode of operation for terminal developers is to take the network as they find it, and develop terminal features to make the network more user friendly, or implement end to end services that only use the network as a simple communications channel or pipe.